Paul Thomas Anderson
If you’re familiar with Paul Thomas
Anderson, then you are aware of the immensely successful career he has had for
over 20 years and counting. His films
have been nominated for 25 academy awards, winning three of them for his cast
and crew. His second film, Boogie Nights, became his first critical
and commercial success when he was just 27 years old. However, many people may not know about the
rather fascinating and impressive rise to fame that catapulted his career into
national fame by his mid 20s.
After graduating from community college in Santa Monica,
Anderson spent a year studying English at Emerson College. After deciding that he did not want to pursue
English, he transferred to one of the most prestigious film schools in the
nation, New York University, in an effort to become a screenwriter. However, it only took him two days of classes
to drop out from the university. Anderson
recalled from his very first day of film school that his professor stated, “If
anyone is here to write Terminator 2,
then get out.” Anderson, thinking that Terminator 2 was a pretty cool movie, decided that film school wasn’t for him.
After dropping out from college, Anderson decided to liquidize
the only assets that he had. These
assets were $10,000 that his father gave him for college, his girlfriend’s credit
card, and some cash he had won from gambling.
With these resources, he was able to gather up $20,000 that he put
entirely into writing, directing and producing his own short film titled, Cigarettes and Coffee. Luckily for Anderson, his first film was
accepted to the Sundance Film Festival, where it received high critical acclaim. His career only skyrocketed from there, as he
produced his first feature length film the following year, and only two years
later, was thrown into national fame after writing and directing, Boogie Nights.
Paul Thomas Anderson was really able to show off his storytelling
talent on the national stage with just his second feature film at the age of
27. Boogie
Nights employs many themes throughout the 156-minute experience, including
the classic rise-and-fall scheme and the theme of power. However, one scene in particular stands out
from Anderson’s masterpiece, which centers around the theme of heroism. In this scene, Buck Swope, portrayed by Don Cheadle,
enters a donut shop in order to purchase some late night donuts for him and his
wife. Wearing an all white suite that
highlights his innocence and pure heart, Buck’s purchase is interrupted by an
armed robber. As the robber demands all
the money from the clerk and Buck pleads for his life, a customer sitting at
the back corner of the donut shop reveals a revolver. As the clerk is about to hand over the bag of
money to the robber, the man in an attempt to become a hero, discharges his
revolver at the robber, who before dying, is able to get a shot off and kill
the hero. Unfortunately, as the hero is
struck by the bullet, he accidentally discharges another round which lands in
the back of the store clerk’s skull, leaving Buck covered in blood and as the only
survivor to this bloodbath. Buck,
noticing the bloody bag of money on the ground, then takes it and makes his
getaway. While Anderson definitely has
his own interpretation of his scene, it is correct to say that not everyone is
cut out to save the day. In a dirty world,
people who try to do the right thing might just end up getting themselves and
others killed. It’s scenes like these
that differentiate Anderson from other filmmakers, and place him at the top of
the list today.
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